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MGM Resorts Sponsors Seven Magic Mountains in the Nevada Desert

Company’s Commitment to Art Helps Bring Large-Scale, Site-Specific Public Art Installation to Life

LAS VEGAS – MGM Resorts International, a company long committed to supporting and displaying public art in Las Vegas, is a proud sponsor for internationally renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains. The colorful large-scale, public artwork is located in the Nevada desert a few miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.

“Art is vital to the foundation of a strong, vibrant city, and it provokes creative thought, stimulates interest and sparks conversation,” said Jim Murren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MGM Resorts International. “Our company understands the intrinsic value of art and we are proud to sponsor Seven Magic Mountains, the inspiration of a brilliant artist – Ugo Rondinone."

One of the largest land-based art installations completed in more than 40 years, Seven Magic Mountains is comprised of seven towers of colorfully painted, locally sourced, stacked boulders, each weighing an average of 40,000 pounds. The project took more than five years from conception to completion and allowed Rondinone to extend his sculptural exploration of physical space beyond the traditional confines of gallery walls or even a public plaza.

Occupying an area between the stillness of the Nevada desert and people traveling between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the totemic forms of Seven Magic Mountains, which seem to defy gravity, recall stone cairns marking the way for travelers passing through unfamiliar landscapes. Rondinone invites visitors to contemplate the desert space and its history of human intervention.

Seven Magic Mountains is visible from Interstate 15, where approximately 16 million vehicles will pass during the two years it will be on display, making it one of the most visible works in the history of the land art continuum. According to Rondinone, the location is physically and symbolically mid-way between the natural and the artificial: the natural is expressed by the mountain ranges, desert, and Jean Dry Lake backdrop, and the artificial is expressed by the highway and the constant flow of traffic between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Public art is redefining identities of places around the world, and Seven Magic Mountains strengthens Nevada’s identity as a place that celebrates the work of interesting artists and draws attention to Las Vegas as it continues to evolve into a city known for the arts.

Seven Magic Mountains is produced by the Art Production Fund, New York and Nevada Museum of Art, Reno. MGM Resorts, and its ARIA Resort & Casino, are a title sponsor. Many of the project’s public programs will take place at ARIA, a fitting location as it's the home of the first major permanent collection of art in Las Vegas to be integrated into a public space and one of the world’s largest and most ambitious corporate art collections in existence today. ARIA’s Fine Art Collection, along with Seven Magic Mountains, are shining examples of what can be accomplished through corporate involvement in the arts.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is one of the world's leading global hospitality companies, operating a portfolio of destination resort brands including Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage. The Company is in the process of developing MGM National Harbor in Maryland and MGM Springfield in Massachusetts. MGM Resorts controls, and holds a 73 percent economic interest in the operating partnership of MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP), a premier triple-net lease real estate investment trust engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. The Company also owns 51 percent of MGM China Holdings Limited (HK: 2282), which owns the MGM Macau resort and casino and is developing a gaming resort in Cotai, and 50 percent of CityCenter in Las Vegas, which features ARIA Resort & Casino. MGM Resorts is named among FORTUNE® Magazine's 2016 list of World's Most Admired Companies®. For more information about MGM Resorts International, visit the Company's website at www.mgmresorts.com.

Nevada Museum of Art is the only AAM accredited art museum in Nevada. A private, non-profit organization founded in 1931, the Reno-based institution is supported by its membership as well as sponsorships, gifts and grants. Through its permanent collections, original exhibitions and programming, and Museum School, the Nevada Museum of Art provides the opportunity for people to engage with a range of art and education experiences. Its Center for Art + Environment, is an internationally-recognized research center dedicated to supporting the practice, study, and awareness of creative interactions between people and their environments. The Center houses unique archive materials from more than 1,000 artists working on all seven continents, including Cape Farewell, Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria, Lita Albuquerque, Burning Man, Center for Land Use Interpretation, and Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains project. More at nevadaart.org

Ugo Rondinone, born 1964 in Brunnen, Switzerland, lives and works in New York and has long embraced a fluid range of forms and media. By allowing himself such formal, Rondinone creates the conditions for an expansive emotional range. His work has become recognized for its ability to channel both psychological expressiveness and profound insight in the human condition and the relationship between human being and nature. Referring concurrently to the natural world, romanticism and existentialism, his works encapsulate a “mental trinity” that has underpinned his art for more than twenty years. Recent solo shows include Carre d’Art, Nimes, Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2016); Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Secession, Vienna (2015), Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, Museo Anahuacalli, Mexico (2014); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, M Museum, Leuven (2013)

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